


On Lady Friends

by Deastar



Series: Heat [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 19:01:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1659035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deastar/pseuds/Deastar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Tony’s looking at him like he’s been replaced by a pod person. Bruce is on the receiving end of this look pretty frequently, but he still feels compelled to explain, “I’m doing a project. Trying to... be honest with other people about what I like. And don’t like.”</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Lady Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little post-Heat snippet. It won't make any sense if you haven't read Heat first.

“I like being your friend,” Bruce says, stumbling over the words a little – they’re pretty kindergarten-esque, but he’s satisfied with them.

Tony’s looking at him like he’s been replaced by a pod person. Bruce is on the receiving end of this look pretty frequently, but he still feels compelled to explain, “I’m doing a project. Trying to... be honest with other people about what I like. And don’t like.”

“Uh-huh.” Tony goes back to tweaking an ankle joint in his latest suit, conspicuously not looking at Bruce. “This project have anything to do with Tall, Red, and Terrifying?”

“Yes,” Bruce admits easily. Tony can smell social discomfort like a shark smells blood. The only way to live with him is never to show embarrassment. Fortunately, when you live with Tony, you have an excellent model of shamelessness to emulate.

“Mm.” Tony rubs engine grease through his hair and absentmindedly tosses a pair of pliers to You, who catches them deftly. “You know, you do your thing, whatever floats your own rage-y little sailboat, but when I’m trying to work on being good enough for my special lady friend, I’ve learned it’s a better move to pay attention to what _she_ likes and doesn’t like than what I like or don’t like. Just my two trillion cents.”

Bruce considers that. For just about any other man in the world, that’s solid advice. “That hasn’t really been... my problem,” he explains, not willing to say any more, but it doesn’t matter, because Tony flicks a quick glance up at him and nods.

“Yeah, I guess I could see that,” Tony agrees, and that’s where they leave it.

It takes Tony three days to work up to dropping a muttered, “I like being your friend, too,” in between rhapsodies about the microscope he’s designing for Bruce, but that’s okay. That wasn’t really the point of the exercise.

It’s still nice to hear, though.


End file.
